Course Availability and College Enrollment: Evidence from administrative data and enrollment discontinuities

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Abstract:

Community colleges serve close to half of the undergraduate students in the United States and tuition at two-year public/non-profit colleges is mostly a public expenditure. We measure the effect of decreased course availability on grades, degree attainment, and transfer to four-year colleges using a regression discontinuity from course enrollment queues due to oversubscribed courses. Using a panel from a large California community college and the National Student Clearinghouse we find that in the short run students substitute unavailable courses with others. We find no significant effects on later outcomes, given the precision of our tests, however we cannot rule out economically significant effects.

Last updated on 06/06/2014